Francisco de Sarmiento

It is said he was a native of Burgos, and to have descended from infant Don Juan Manuel, son of the Castilian and King Fernando III.{{cite web|title=La gesta de un héroe|author=R. Pérez Barredo|url=https://www.diariodeburgos.es/noticia/za1eee877-de97-bcd1-0951ad47ab2db37c/20140330/gesta/heroe|work=Diario de Burgos|access-date=1 September 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210901224755/https://www.diariodeburgos.es/noticia/za1eee877-de97-bcd1-0951ad47ab2db37c/20140330/gesta/heroe|archive-date=1 September 2021}} He was the uncle of Francisco Sarmiento Mendoza.

It is said that he forged himself in the Italian Wars, fighting in Naples, Caserta, and Benevento.

At the siege of Castelnuovo, Sarmiento fought 50,000 Ottomans with about three thousand men. He chose to keep on fighting against the Ottomans till the end, refusing to make pacts with them, even though they outnumbered them by far and he knew the Holy League could not come to their help.Fernández Álvarez, p. 229 In the last and definitive attack, Francisco de Sarmiento, on horseback, was wounded in the face by three arrows, but he continued to encourage his men.Arsenal/Prado, p. 32

He inflicted heavy losses on the Ottomans, killing all of the Janissaries and many from the other Ottoman units. Something between 10,000 and 20,000 Ottomans were killed by the Spaniards in what resulted in an Ottoman Pyrrhic victory.{{cite web|title=Complejos del pasado|last=Duran|first=Bernard|url=https://www.farodevigo.es/opinion/2010/04/08/complejos-pasado-17853329.html|work=Faro de Vigo|access-date=4 September 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210904103543/https://www.farodevigo.es/opinion/2010/04/08/complejos-pasado-17853329.html|archive-date=4 September 2021}}{{cite web|title=Los Tercios en el Mediterráneo – Los Sitios de Castelnuovo y Malta|last=|first=|url=https://www.gehm.es/edad-moderna/tercios-espana/batallas-de-los-tercios/los-tercios-en-el-mediterraneo-los-sitios-de-castelnuovo-y-malta/|work=www.gehm.es|access-date=4 September 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210904103325/https://www.gehm.es/edad-moderna/tercios-espana/batallas-de-los-tercios/los-tercios-en-el-mediterraneo-los-sitios-de-castelnuovo-y-malta/|archive-date=4 September 2021}}Arsenal/Prado, p. 33{{cite book |title=Charles Oman, A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century |pages=693 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6KQOAQAAIAAJ&q=castelnuovo|last1=Oman |first1=Charles |year=1937 }}

In the last clash, Sarmiento ordered the 600 Spanish survivors to retreat and go defend the castle where the civilian population of Castelnuovo had taken refuge. Although the withdrawal was made in perfect order and discipline, Sarmiento and his men found that the doors of the castle were walled at their arrival. Sarmiento was offered a rope to raise him to the walls, but he refused to save himself and let his companions die. Thus, he joined Machín de Munguía, Juan Vizcaíno, and Sancho Frias to lead the last stand. Surrounded by the Ottoman army, the last Spanish soldiers fiercely fought until their death. Castelnuovo was lost to the Ottomans, who suffered huge casualties.

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last= Arsenal|first= León|author2=Prado, Fernando |title= Rincones de historia española|year= 2008 |publisher= EDAF|isbn=978-84-414-2050-2|language=es}}
• {{cite book |last= Croce|first= Benedetto|title= España en la vida italiana del Renacimiento|year= 2007 |publisher= Editorial Renacimiento|isbn=978-84-8472-268-7|language=es}}
• {{cite book |last= Fernández Álvarez|first= Manuel|title= El Imperio de Carlos V|year= 2001 |publisher= Real Academia de la Historia|location= Taravilla|isbn=978-84-89512-90-0|language=es}}
• {{cite book |last= Fernández Álvarez|first= Manuel|title= Carlos V, el César y el hombre|year= 1999|publisher= Espasa-Calpe|isbn=84-239-9752-9|language=es}}
• {{cite book |last= Fernández Duro |first= Cesáreo |title= Armada Española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón |volume=I |year=1895 |publisher=Est. tipográfico "Sucesores de Rivadeneyra"|location=Madrid, Spain |language=es}}
• {{cite book |last= Jacob Levin|first= Michael|title= Agents of empire: Spanish ambassadors in sixteenth-century Italy|year= 2005 |publisher= Cornell University Press|location= New York|isbn=978-0-8014-4352-7}}
• {{cite book |last= Jaques |first= Tony |title= Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-first Century |volume= 2 |year=2007 |publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-33538-9}}
• {{cite book |last= Martínez Laínez|first= Fernando|author2=Sánchez de Toca Catalá |author3=José María |title= Tercios de España: la infantería legendaria|year= 2006 |publisher= EDAF|location= Madrid|isbn=978-84-414-1847-9|language=es}}
• {{cite book |last= Martínez Ruiz|first= Enrique|author2=Giménez, Enrique|title= Introducción a la historia moderna|year= 1994|publisher= Ediciones Akal|isbn=978-84-7090-293-2|language=es}}
• {{cite book |last= De Sandoval|first= Prudencio|title= Historia de la vida y hechos del emperador Carlos V|year= 1634|publisher= Bartolomé París (Pamplona), Pedro Escuer (Zaragoza)|language=es}}{{dubious|reason=This is probably so out-of-date it should only be used as a primary source|date=August 2021}}

Category:Spanish generals

Category:People of the Ottoman–Venetian Wars

Category:People from Burgos

Category:16th-century Spanish military personnel

Category:Spanish military personnel killed in action

Category:1539 deaths

Category:1498 births

Category:Ottoman–Venetian War (1537–1540)